It's time to level up your typography skills.

Typography is 95% of the web, and a fundamental piece of design. Whether you're a total newbie non-designer who just loves fonts as much as all of us do, or you're a working professional who adjusts kerning on a daily basis, anyone will admit there's always more to learn.

And we want to help you improve those typographic skills of yours.

While we're working on a more full-fledged membership — with links, resources, tutorials, courses, and perks — we're starting with something simple.

Below you'll find a curated list of some of the best books we've found (and why you might want to read 'em), to get you started.

There's affiliate links mixed into our list, which means if you buy one from one of our links, our cut will be funneling back into keeping the League going — so if you like it, grab it and help us out at the same time.

And as always, we have our weekly newsletter going out sharing more suggestions, tutorials, and links — join the Weekly Typographic for more!

Robert Bringhurst

The Elements of Typographic Style

This is a must-read for anyone that's looking for a primer in typesetting rules and best practices. We find ourselves picking this one up every couple months just for a refresh, and we always learn something new!

Karen Cheng

Designing Type

If you're designing a typeface, use this! There is such unique and crucial knowledge in this publication that we haven't seen anywhere else (online or in print). Each spread in the book is a different type of letter and provides advice on how to approach designing the letterform. Want to know how to design an uppercase serif G, you're covered!

Simon Garfield

Just My Type

This is easily the most fun typography book we have on our shelves. It's a great look at how culture has influenced typography and vice versa. A lot of awesome trivia in here that's enjoyable both the novice and sesasoned designer.

Martina Flor

The Golden Secrets of Lettering

An instructional book on how to design lettering pieces from start to finish, The Golden Secrets of Lettering, should be a staple on any letter-lover's bookshelf. She walks through her lettering process from inspiration, to drawing, vectoring, flourishing and finally how to showcase your finished project. It's super tactical and the most thorough lettering book we've come across.

Jessica Hische

In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector

Celebrity lettering artist Jessica Hische provides her insight on her lettering process by way of instructional pages and case studies of her past projects. She shows sketches for some of her high profile projects with big name clients like Penguin Random House, Starbucks and Mailchimp.

Louise Fili & Steven Heller

Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age

Design and type legends Louise Fili and Steven Heller compile spectacular examples of Script from yesteryear. These examples will take you back in time and are a feast to the eyes everytime you open this. We grab this one constantly for as a source for lettering inspiration.

Keith Houston

Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks

This one's for the type history lovers! This incredibly detailed book thoroughly recounts the history of our modern day punctuation marks. We haven't seen anything quite like this, and it's as enjoyable as it is robust. Just wait until you read about the Interrobang chapter!

Douglas Thomas

Never Use Futura

Futura is even more ubiquitous than you realize! Futura-expert Douglas Thomas recounts in great detail the birth and life of this timeless typeface. He points out how well-traveled this alphabet it, appearing everywhere from the moon (literally) and back.

Phillip B Meggs, Alston W Purvis

Meggs' History of Graphic Design (Revised)

This is the textbook for graphic deisgn history. It was the first textbook published on the subject, and it's an invaluable resource for inspiration and education. We realize this isn't cheap, but promise it's an investment that's well worth it

Ellen Lupton

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Revised, Expanded)

An essential resource for novice designers and typographers, Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type explains the fundamentals of typography. As far as type books for beginners, this it the most accesible, friendly and comprehensive. It covers all the necessary terminology and best practices, and readers are bound improve their typography after reading this gem.

The W E B Du Bois Center at the University of Massachusetts (Author) Whitney Battle-Baptiste (Editor) Britt Rusert (Editor)

W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America

An incredible resource for seeing the first instance of infographic activism with W.E.B. Du Bois's Data Portraits from 1900. A necessary link in design history, this series of data visualizations that were the first to showcase institutionalized racism in America, yet have rarely been discussed in formal design history

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